kaelizaco's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Drug use, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Stalking, and Death
lola425's review against another edition
3.0
Enjoyable, but I felt like I read it, or something like it, before.
lazygal's review
4.0
A difficult book to review - it's not really plot-driven, it's more a memoir-like account of a woman's life that started off with some semblance of promise and devolves from there. What might have happened to Stella had she not been a teen mother is always a question, and some of her choices are less than well-thought-out. But Stella's story is more than that and at the same time somewhat less: she's a normal person, living a life that isn't filled with adventure and Big Things but instead is filled with regular, everyday things and events. And that's the difficulty in reviewing, isn't it? You want to be able to say "and then the murder happened..." or something significant, but most of our lives aren't filled with those things, they're small moments that add up. Hadley's recounting of Stella's life reminds readers of that, and how even those small moments are important.
ARC provided by publisher.
ARC provided by publisher.
wendoxford's review
3.0
Stella's life is told in the first person from her fatherless start in 1950s, through very early pregnancy, an L-shaped Room type of existence to commune living and the men she meets along the way - regular and irregular! The female friendships feel realistic both from a superficial point of what they chat about, to the strong bonds that ask and give more than is usually shown in a novel. I liked the book rather than loved it.
kelliealtogether's review against another edition
1.0
My entire feeling about this book is meh. Predictable and boring.
ciska's review against another edition
3.0
*Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book on Netgalley from the publisher in return for an honest review*
Author
Tessa Hadley is the author of Sunstroke and Other Stories, and the novels The Master Bedroom, Everything Will Be All Right, and Accidents in the Home. She lives in Cardiff, Wales, and teaches literature and creative writing at Bath Spa University.
Review
I was triggered by the synopsis. The story of Stella, growing up and having to deal with a lot of different situations. Specially the "full of drama" part of the synopsis triggered me.
I had a hard time getting into the story. The first part of the book tells the story of a child but the voice is changing. Sometimes it is a childs voice and choice of words other times it feels adult. I would have expected a more adult voice telling the story so this confused me a bit. It took me some time to find out exactly where in Stella's life we joined her.
Eventually the voice and time line fall into place and it is easier to connect to the situations. The thing that stood out most was the fact that all the drama was not dramatized. Stella felt a bit cold. All the things happening to her, and yes some where shocking, are told with a flat voice. Stella does not seem to have any emotion left in telling her life story. I waited the whole book for the bomb to drop, the drama to begin and than I arrived at the last page and it was over. In a way that is shocking enough but I had expected more.
Author
Tessa Hadley is the author of Sunstroke and Other Stories, and the novels The Master Bedroom, Everything Will Be All Right, and Accidents in the Home. She lives in Cardiff, Wales, and teaches literature and creative writing at Bath Spa University.
Review
I was triggered by the synopsis. The story of Stella, growing up and having to deal with a lot of different situations. Specially the "full of drama" part of the synopsis triggered me.
I had a hard time getting into the story. The first part of the book tells the story of a child but the voice is changing. Sometimes it is a childs voice and choice of words other times it feels adult. I would have expected a more adult voice telling the story so this confused me a bit. It took me some time to find out exactly where in Stella's life we joined her.
Eventually the voice and time line fall into place and it is easier to connect to the situations. The thing that stood out most was the fact that all the drama was not dramatized. Stella felt a bit cold. All the things happening to her, and yes some where shocking, are told with a flat voice. Stella does not seem to have any emotion left in telling her life story. I waited the whole book for the bomb to drop, the drama to begin and than I arrived at the last page and it was over. In a way that is shocking enough but I had expected more.
romcsa's review against another edition
3.0
Túto knihu podľa mňa dokonale vystihuje anglické citoslovce - meh. Kniha ma striedavo nudila všednou každodennosťou a striedavo bavila peknými opismi a myšlienkami. Keď však zoberiem príbeh ako celok, bolo to úplne, ale že úplne o ničom. Postavy boli nesympatické, správali sa nepochopiteľne (predovšetkým hlavná postava - rozprávačka), žiadna postava ma nedokázala strhnúť tak, aby mi na nej záležalo. Kniha ma nechala úplne chladnou. A mala som pocit, že presne taká bola aj hlavná postava, akoby jej na ničom v živote nezáležalo, nič ju nikdy nevyviedlo z miery, o naozaj hrozivých životných skúsenostiach rozpráva tak mimochodom, akoby opisovala to, čo mala na raňajky.
Asi tak každých 50 strán som mala chuť knihu odložiť a už ju neotvoriť, nakoniec som ju so sebazaprením dočítala, ale v zásade mi nič nedala.
Asi tak každých 50 strán som mala chuť knihu odložiť a už ju neotvoriť, nakoniec som ju so sebazaprením dočítala, ale v zásade mi nič nedala.
swankai23's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
4.5
runkefer's review against another edition
3.0
This is not so much a novel as a linked story collection. 3 of the "chapters" appeared as stories in the Nee Yorker. It reads more like a memoir than a novel, jumping from life episode to life episode through time, from the time the main character Stella is a child until she's 50. The book is well written, but ultimately I didn't feel invested in the character, mainly because of the episodic nature of the book. It just didn't cohere for me.